The Guardian Books podcast + Music | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/series/books+music
Indexen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2016Fri, 09 Dec 2016 14:22:51 GMT2016-12-09T14:22:51Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2016The Guardianhttps://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttps://www.theguardian.com
Writing about art, music and loneliness – books podcasthttps://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2016/mar/18/writing-about-art-music-and-loneliness-books-podcast
<p>Robin Ince and Green Gartside explain why the music world needs a book prize and Olivia Laing follows Edward Hopper and Andy Warhol down lonely street</p><p> In this week’s podcast we look at the literature of art and music. Olivia Laing leads us through The Lonely City, exploring how the alienation felt by some of New York’s most famous artists – from Edward Hopper to Andy Warhol – has helped to shape its aesthetic in often unexpected ways. Then we make a rare excursion into the world of music to meet some of the leading lights involved in a starry new book prize, and to hear how they feel about pitting Elvis Costello against Patti Smith and Jon Savage.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2016/mar/18/writing-about-art-music-and-loneliness-books-podcast">Continue reading...</a>BooksCultureEdward HopperMusicArt and designOlivia LaingFri, 18 Mar 2016 18:31:19 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2016/mar/18/writing-about-art-music-and-loneliness-books-podcastPhotograph: Art Institute of ChicagoPhotograph: Art Institute of ChicagoPresented by Claire Armitstead with Lindesay Irvine and produced by Susannah Tresilian2016-03-18T18:31:19ZGaia Vince, Oliver Morton and the verdict on Morrissey – books podcasthttps://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2015/sep/25/gaia-vince-oliver-morton-morrissey-podcast
<p>We find out what Morrissey’s novel tells us about this charming man, catch up with Royal Society prizewinner Gaia Vince and hear Oliver Morton’s plans for reshaping the planet</p><p>Books have been in the headlines this week, so we've devoted this week's podcast to catching up with some of the headline acts. Music editor Michael Hann tells us what he has learned from the new novel from the former Smiths frontman Morrissey.</p><p>Next we head to the Royal Society, where Gaia Vince, winner of the society's science book prize, tells us what inspired her to give up her job and travel to some of the most challenging environments on earth.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2015/sep/25/gaia-vince-oliver-morton-morrissey-podcast">Continue reading...</a>MorrisseyClimate changeClimate changeBooksCultureScienceEnvironmentMusicMusicScience and natureRoyal Society prizes for science booksFri, 25 Sep 2015 17:09:33 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2015/sep/25/gaia-vince-oliver-morton-morrissey-podcastPhotograph: Deco / Alamy/AlamySatellite image of Earth at night, showing city lights across Europe and a rising sun. Photograph: Deco / Alamy/AlamyPhotograph: Deco / Alamy/AlamySatellite image of Earth at night, showing city lights across Europe and a rising sun. Photograph: Deco / Alamy/AlamyPresented by Claire Armitstead and produced by Eva Krysiak2015-09-25T17:09:33ZSound and taste – books podcasthttps://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2014/jan/31/sound-taste-cheese-books-podcast
We take acoustician Trevor Cox on a sound walk in London, while Michael Paterniti joins us to conjure up one of the world's rarest cheeses<p>In this week's podcast we investigate two of the senses that often get rushed out of focus in the bustle of the modern world. The acoustic engineer Trevor Cox dons a blindfold and takes off on a sound walk around King's Cross, to show how what hear is influenced by where we are. He explains why we should pay more attention to the twangs and thuds that surround us, and why he went searching for a place where every noise reverberated for two minutes.</p><p>Then we turn our attention to taste with the journalist Michael Paterniti, who journeyed to rural Spain in search of one of the world's rarest cheeses and its larger-than-life creator – a man whose pursuit of authenticity challenges many of the values of modern life.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2014/jan/31/sound-taste-cheese-books-podcast">Continue reading...</a>Science and natureFood and drinkMusicBooksCultureFri, 31 Jan 2014 15:24:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2014/jan/31/sound-taste-cheese-books-podcastPhotograph: Nils Jorgensen / Rex FeaturesBeethoven's Trumpet (With Ear) Opus #133 by John Baldessari at the Frieze art fair in 2009. Photograph: Nils Jorgensen / Rex FeaturesPhotograph: Nils Jorgensen / Rex FeaturesBeethoven's Trumpet (With Ear) Opus #133 by John Baldessari at the Frieze art fair in 2009. Photograph: Nils Jorgensen / Rex FeaturesPresented by Claire Armitstead and produced by Tim Maby2014-01-31T15:24:00ZMorrissey's autobiography: vain or glorious? – books podcasthttps://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2013/dec/26/morrissey-autobiography-vain-glorious-podcast
John Crace digests Morrissey's Autobiography down to just 600 words, while Will Woodward and Caspar Llewellyn Smith wonder if the one-time Smiths frontman is as cool as he thinks he is<p>John Crace's satirical Digested read columns have become a Guardian institution, reducing the most newsworthy books of the year to an essential 600 words.</p><p>Here, he takes on Morrissey, whose hotly anticipated Autobiography was published as a Penguin Classic this autumn and has gone on to become one of the publishing successes of the year.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2013/dec/26/morrissey-autobiography-vain-glorious-podcast">Continue reading...</a>BiographyMusicBooksMorrisseyMusicCultureUK newsThu, 26 Dec 2013 10:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2013/dec/26/morrissey-autobiography-vain-glorious-podcastPhotograph: Mat Hayward/FilmMagicMorrissey in concert in Seattle in March 2013. 'He is the very definition of old news,' writes Carole Cadwalladr. Photograph: Mat Hayward/FilmMagicPhotograph: Mat Hayward/FilmMagicMorrissey in concert in Seattle in March 2013. 'He is the very definition of old news,' writes Carole Cadwalladr. Photograph: Mat Hayward/FilmMagicPresented by Claire Armitstead and produced by Tim Maby2013-12-26T10:00:00ZEdinburgh international book festival podcast: Jane Gardam and Cerys Matthewshttps://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2013/aug/15/jane-gardam-cerys-matthews-podcast
Jane Gardam finishes her Old Filth trilogy; Cerys Matthews campaigns for making music at home and Julia Donaldson sings a song of silly words<p>With her latest novel Last Friends, Jane Gardam reaches the end of her <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/filth-and-lucre-jane-gardams-masterful-trilogy-draws-to-a-close/article13575209/">Old Filth trilogy</a>, which tells the story of a generation of international lawyers who plied their trade across the British empire, but retired after the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to end their days in rural Dorset. </p><p>She explains why she announced the death of all her central characters in the first sentence of the novel, how it's boring to write novels in continuous prose alone, and how she went about mining comedy from English reticence.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2013/aug/15/jane-gardam-cerys-matthews-podcast">Continue reading...</a>Edinburgh international book festivalMusicJane GardamFictionJulia DonaldsonChildren and teenagersBooksCerys MatthewsMusicCultureUK newsThu, 15 Aug 2013 15:27:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2013/aug/15/jane-gardam-cerys-matthews-podcastPhotograph: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert/Getty ImagesJane Gardam. Photograph: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert/Getty ImagesJane Gardam. Photograph: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert/Getty ImagesPresented by Claire Armitstead and produced by Tim Maby2013-08-15T15:27:00ZGuardian Books podcast: Ronald Blythe remembers Benjamin Brittenhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2013/jun/21/benjamin-britten-ronald-blythe-podcast
It's Benjamin Britten's centenary year, and the veteran writer Ronald Blythe remembers the time he spent working for the composer at Aldeburgh, where he met EM Forster and started out on his literary career<p>This week the Books podcast goes to the seaside, with Patrick Barkham setting sail for Aldeburgh, where he meets the author Ronald Blythe.</p><p>Blythe returns to his early days on the Suffolk coast in the 1950s, where he worked for Benjamin Britten and met Imogen Holst, EM Forster and a thriving artistic community. He recalls how Forster pushed a note under his door suggesting they meet up for a drink, his puzzlement over Forster's drab clothes, and how Blythe never dared mention his own writing.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2013/jun/21/benjamin-britten-ronald-blythe-podcast">Continue reading...</a>EM ForsterFictionMusicBooksBenjamin BrittenClassical musicMusicCultureFri, 21 Jun 2013 13:34:11 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2013/jun/21/benjamin-britten-ronald-blythe-podcastPhotograph: PRThe beach at AldeburghPhotograph: PRThe beach at AldeburghPresented by Claire Armitstead and produced by Tim Maby2013-06-21T13:34:11ZGuardian Books podcast: Pete Townshend, Neil Young and poetry bookshttps://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2012/oct/05/poetry-books-townshend-young-memoir-podcast
We harvest the best of this year's crop of celebrity memoirs, including rock'n'roll legends Pete Townshend and Neil Young, and hear from Forward-winning poet Jorie Graham<p>In the week that National Poetry Day adopted stars as its motif, we look at the stars of the poetry and music worlds.</p><p>The week began with <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/01/forwardprizeforpoetry-poetry">Jorie Graham becoming the first American woman to win the prestigious Forward prize for the year's best collection</a>. Nicholas Wroe talks to her about her winning collection, PLACE, and investigates the claim that the Pulitzer prize-winner is the finest female poet the US has produced in the post-war years.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2012/oct/05/poetry-books-townshend-young-memoir-podcast">Continue reading...</a>PoetryMusicBooksThe WhoNeil YoungMusicCultureBiographyFri, 05 Oct 2012 15:14:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2012/oct/05/poetry-books-townshend-young-memoir-podcastPhotograph: Neal Preston/ Neal Preston/CORBISPete Townshend performing with The Who. Photograph: Neal Preston / CorbisPhotograph: Neal Preston/ Neal Preston/CORBISPete Townshend performing with The Who. Photograph: Neal Preston / CorbisClaire Armitstead2012-10-05T15:14:00ZGuardian Books podcast: Royalty and the English folk songhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2012/jun/01/royalty-english-literature-folk-song-podcast
We investigate the rich seam of royalty in British literature, and examine Englishness through the lens of folk song, with Steve Roud and the singer Rachel Unthank<p>Does royalty make for the best stories? According to historian Thomas Penn, who paints a dark portrait of Henry VII in Winter King, the continuing fascination with the royal family lies in the gap between the lofty conception of the institution and the imperfect reality of the human beings who embody it. German journalist, Peter Littger, joins the discussion to offer a continental perspective on the compact between subject and monarch.</p><p>If royalty is essential to the British identity, another strand is the music of the people – folk music. Five decades after Ralph Vaughan Williams and AL Lloyd's Penguin Book of English Folk Song was first published, Steve Roud and Julia Bishop have updated it. Roud discusses the tunes they've added – and those they've left out – with the singer <a href="http://www.the-unthanks.com/">Rachel Unthank</a>, who performs songs from both the new edition and the old.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2012/jun/01/royalty-english-literature-folk-song-podcast">Continue reading...</a>HistoryPoliticsMusicBooksFolk musicMusicCultureEuropeWorld newsThe UnthanksFri, 01 Jun 2012 11:09:31 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2012/jun/01/royalty-english-literature-folk-song-podcastPhotograph: James Ravilious/ James Ravilious; Beaford ArchiVillagers preparing for a jubilee celebration in 1977. Photograph: James Ravilious / Beaford Archive /CorbisPhotograph: James Ravilious/ James Ravilious; Beaford ArchiVillagers preparing for a jubilee celebration in 1977. Photograph: James Ravilious / Beaford Archive /CorbisPresented by Claire Armitstead and produced by Tim Maby2012-06-01T11:09:31ZGuardian Books podcast: Review of the year 2011https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2011/dec/23/books-review-2011-podcast
This year the Books podcast has travelled from Paris to Edinburgh and from Krakow to Kolkata. Come with us as we look back at the highlights of a year's literary podcasting<p>It's been an adventurous year on the books podcast, so we thought we'd take a pause to look back over some of our favourite moments from the last 12 months. We visit Krakow with the novelist James Hopkin and Paris with Fiachra Gibbons. We go to Russia to hear about machinations in modern Moscow from Luke Harding. We take a tour of gothic Edinburgh and follow Oliver Twist around the back streets of London. We also hear about self-help and sickness in literature – and the poet Alice Oswald treats us to her update of the writing of Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2011/dec/23/books-review-2011-podcast">Continue reading...</a>FictionPoetryAlice OswaldKristin HershMusicCharles DickensBooksCultureFri, 23 Dec 2011 11:29:22 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2011/dec/23/books-review-2011-podcastPhotograph: Dave Thompson/APTurning back the hands of time ... Maintenance work on the town hall clock in Manchester. Photograph: Dave Thompson / APPhotograph: Dave Thompson/APTurning back the hands of time ... Maintenance work on the town hall clock in Manchester. Photograph: Dave Thompson / APPresented by Claire Armitstead and produced by Tim Maby2011-12-23T11:29:22ZGuardian Books podcast: Christmas books with Nile Rodgers and Noel Fieldinghttps://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2011/oct/21/nile-rodgers-mighty-boosh-christmas-books-podcast
Self-styled Freak Nile Rodgers tells his life story and how he became leader of the disco band Chic; Noel Fielding of the Mighty Boosh brings out a picture book; and Vanessa Thorpe discusses books for Christmas<p>In this week's podcast we celebrate the start of the Christmas publishing season with a look at the celebrity titles in contention for the top spot on this year's bestseller lists. And we track down two celebs who have actually written their books themselves. Disco king Nile Rodgers talks to Lindesay Irvine about Chic, Freak, and growing up with junkie parents in LA. The Mighty Boosh's Noel Fielding explains how he came to create one of the year's top ironic celebrity Christmas books without even knowing he was doing it.</p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/data/book/music/9781847443144/le-freak-an-upside-down-story-of-family-disco-and-destiny">Le Freak: An Upside Down Story of Family, Disco and Destiny</a> by Nile Rodgers (Sphere)</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2011/oct/21/nile-rodgers-mighty-boosh-christmas-books-podcast">Continue reading...</a>MusicBiographyBooksComedyNoel FieldingDance musicJazzMusicCultureUS newsWorld newsNile RodgersFri, 21 Oct 2011 13:42:31 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2011/oct/21/nile-rodgers-mighty-boosh-christmas-books-podcastPhotograph: Bryan Bedder/Getty ImagesNile Rodgers in 2006 Photograph: Bryan Bedder/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Bryan Bedder/Getty ImagesNile Rodgers in 2006 Photograph: Bryan Bedder/Getty ImagesPresented by Claire Armitstead and produced by Tim Maby2011-10-21T13:42:31ZBook of the Week podcast: The Blue Moment by Richard Williamshttps://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2009/aug/21/miles-davis-kind-blue-moment-richard-williams
The author of a heartfelt study of Miles Davis's classic album Kind of Blue, which turns 50 this year, tells Claire Armitstead about the impact the record had on him, and on the history of music<p>Richard Williams first heard Miles Davis's Kind of Blue on the radio as a teenager in the early 60s and immediately knew he was listening to something special. </p><p>As his new book, The Blue Moment, is published, he explains how it came to be the most important jazz album of all time, and explores the influences that shaped it – from Davis's dalliance in Paris with Juliet Greco and the existentialists, to the basement apartment in Manhattan where New York's jazzers amused each other with competitive chord games. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2009/aug/21/miles-davis-kind-blue-moment-richard-williams">Continue reading...</a>Miles DavisJazzMusicMusicBooksCultureFri, 21 Aug 2009 12:03:15 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2009/aug/21/miles-davis-kind-blue-moment-richard-williamsPhotograph: CorbisMiles DavisPhotograph: CorbisMiles DavisClaire Armitstead2009-08-21T12:03:15ZAlex Ross: Guardian first book award:https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2008/nov/08/guardianfirstbookaward-music
Nominee for the Guardian first book award talks to Claire Armitstead about The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2008/nov/08/guardianfirstbookaward-music">Continue reading...</a>Guardian first book award 2008BooksGuardian first book awardCultureMusicClassical musicAwards and prizesAlex RossSat, 08 Nov 2008 00:02:22 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2008/nov/08/guardianfirstbookaward-musicPhotograph: Lisa Carpenter/GuardianAlex Ross, music critic for the New Yorker and author. Photograph: Lisa CarpenterPhotograph: Lisa Carpenter/GuardianAlex Ross, music critic for the New Yorker and author. Photograph: Lisa CarpenterClaire Armitstead2008-11-08T00:02:22Z